Charlie Hebdo Editor: No More Mohammed Cartoons

The editor of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo has declared that he will not publish any more cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, just six months after the Islamist terrorist attack on the magazine that killed 10 civilians and two police officers.

Speaking to the Hamburg-based Stern, Laurent Sourisseau, the cartoonist and publishing editor who took a gunshot to the shoulder in the attacks, said, "We've done our job. We have defended the right to caricature."

Some may view the magazine's new approach as a capitulation to the radical Islamist terrorists demanding censorship in fealty to their fundamentalist ideals. The fact is that images of the Prophet Mohammed have been commonplace throughout Islam's history.

"We still believe that we have the right to criticize all religions," Sourisseau added.

Sourisseau was present as his colleagues were murdered in January. In fact, he himself had to play dead to avoid further targeting.

But his interview in Stern also reveals that he believes that new pioneers in the area of free speech have taken up the Charlie Hebdo mantle.

"Now others are off," he said – a signal that he is pleased that there are others, such as Pamela Geller and Geert Wilders, leading the charge. Breitbart London understands that a draw Mohammed cartoon competition will soon come to London, as well as having reared its head in other European cities.

"I prefer to die standing than living on my knees," explainedCharlie Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier before his murder in January.

Last month, Dutch politician Geert Wilders toldBreitbart London that he believed every country should have a draw Mohammed contest, in order to draw a line in the sand on free speech. "You should be able to depict Mohammad without a death sentence. We live in the West, not Saudi Arabia or Pakistan," he said.

Twelve people were killed early this year in Paris, when Islamist gunmen brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi broke into the Charlie Hebdo offices and opened fire with assault rifles on the magazine's staff.

Then-editor of the paper, Stéphane Charbonnier, as well as famous cartoonist Cabu, were killed, resulting in millions pouring out onto the streets of France and other European countries to protest against the fundamentalist Islamic threat, using the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie.

Raheem Kassam is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and editor-in-chief of Breitbart London